Post-War Germany Is Disarmed, Demilitarized, and Divided

At the Berlin (or Potsdam) Conference (July
17–Aug. 2, 1945) President Truman, Premier Stalin, and Prime Minister
Clement Attlee of Britain set forth the guiding principles of the Allied
Control Council: Germany's complete disarmament and demilitarization,
destruction of its war potential, rigid control of industry, and
decentralization of the political and economic structure. Pending final
determination of territorial questions at a peace conference, the three
victors agreed to the ultimate transfer of the city of Königsberg (now
Kaliningrad) and its adjacent area to the USSR and to the administration
by Poland of former German territories lying generally east of the
Oder-Neisse Line. For purposes of control, Germany was divided into four
national occupation zones.

The Western powers were unable to agree with the
USSR on any fundamental issues. Work of the Allied Control Council was
hamstrung by repeated Soviet vetoes; and finally, on March 20, 1948,
Russia walked out of the council. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Britain had
taken steps to merge their zones economically (Bizone); on May 31, 1948,
the U.S., Britain, France, and the Benelux countries agreed to set up a
German state comprising the three Western zones. The USSR reacted by
clamping a blockade on all ground communications between the Western zones
and West Berlin, an enclave in the Soviet zone. The Western allies
countered by organizing a gigantic airlift to fly supplies into the
beleaguered city. The USSR was finally forced to lift the blockade on May
12, 1949.